King’s Lynn’s great annual mart was granted by Henry VIII to begin the day after Candlemas, and after the change of calendar in 1752 it was proclaimed on Valentine’s Day. At noon the mayor and corporation walked in procession with a band and twelve old men in red coats to proclaim the mart and open the old court of Piepowder. By 1826 the trading that once drew housewives from twenty miles round had given way to wild beasts, giants, dwarfs, tumblers and peep-shows. Lynn Mart is still opened with a proclamation every 14 February.
Lynn Mart
14 February · King's Lynn, Norfolk
Still kept
About noon, the mayor and corporation, preceded by a band of music, and attended by twelve decrepit old men, called from their dress "Red coats," walk in procession to proclaim the mart
From Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. 2, cols. 223-226. Read the original
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